Along an assembly line, various types of articles, such as for example, diapers and other absorbent articles, may be assembled by adding components to and/or otherwise modifying an advancing, continuous web of material. For example, in some processes, advancing webs of material are combined with other advancing webs of material. In other examples, individual components created from advancing webs of material are combined with advancing webs of material, which in turn, are then combined with other advancing webs of material. In some cases, individual components created from advancing web or webs are combined with other individual components created from other advancing web or webs. Webs of material and component parts used to manufacture diapers may include: backsheets, topsheets, leg cuffs, waist bands, absorbent core components, front and/or back ears, and fastening components. Once the desired component parts are assembled, the advancing web(s) and component parts are subjected to a final knife cut to separate the web(s) into discrete diapers or other absorbent articles.
Some diaper components, such as leg elastics, barrier leg cuff elastics, stretch side panels, and waist elastics, are constructed from elastic laminates. Such elastic laminates may be assembled in various ways depending on the particular diaper design. For example, some elastic laminates may be constructed from one or more nonwoven substrates bonded to an elastic film. In some configurations, the elastic film may be stretched and then bonded with the nonwoven substrates to form an elastic laminate.
Some existing elastic laminate assembly operations may have certain drawbacks. For example, manufacturing operations may be configured with machines adapted to grip and stretch the films before bonding. With some gripping operations, portions of the film may remain unstretched in the assembled elastic laminate. Such unstretched portions of the film add no benefit with respect to the desired elasticity of the assembled elastic laminate. However, the unstretched portions of the film may be bonded with one or more nonwoven layers to help anchor and secure the film to the nonwoven substrates. In use, the elastic laminates may be stretched by applying forces to the elastic laminates in the regions where the unstretched portions of the film are anchored to the nonwovens. As such, when assembling elastic laminates, it may be advantageous utilize nonwovens and/or films with relatively high basis weights and/or relatively high calipers to ensure that the unstretched portions of the film and the nonwovens remain bonded together and do not separate from each other during use. However, nonwovens and/or films with relatively high basis weights can be relatively expensive and may detract from the aesthetic appearance and/or tactile impression of the assembled elastic laminate.
Consequently, it would be beneficial to provide methods and apparatuses for assembling elastic laminates that are configured with regions having a relatively high caliper where the unstretched portions of the film and nonwovens are bonded while at the same time providing the ability to construct the elastic laminate with films and/or nonwovens with relatively low basis weights.